Shoan Sensei’s Dharma Transmission Vows and a Talk with Shugen Roshi and Shoan Sensei

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi and Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 11/16/25 – After introducing Shoan Sensei, and after Shoan offers her Vows to the sangha, Shugen Roshi begins his discourse with the story of one of our great women ancestors, Moshan Liaoran Daiosho. It is a story pointing to the intimacy of the path itself, and to the question of how we understand “transformation.” Told on the morning after Shoan Sensei received dharma transmission, the story becomes a beautiful acknowledgment of lineage—how each of us steps forward, intimately entering the life of the Way—and the responsibility of each of us to be a student first and foremost. After sharing his words, Shugen Roshi warmly invites Shoan Sensei to finish the talk.